Home Schooling

2014

As many of you know our grandson, Short Stuff is now living with us along with his Dad after the passing of his Mom last year.  Short Stuff is now 6 years old and a bright, happy little boy.  He is a true delight.

 With the stay at home order and the closing of all the schools for the year, we are home schooling via the internet and his classroom Kindergarten teacher.  I'm a retired secondary school teacher.  The last 13 years of my career I taught high risk students.  So, I have experienced much in the classroom.  But now, I know why I was a high school teacher and not elementary.  This experience is challenging my creative skills much more than an art quilt or teaching ever has. A six-year old is extremely active and have short attention spans.  The best thing is to create a schedule that has flexibility.  We try to set a morning time for our internet experience.  Then lots of reading.  I tried to do it all in the beginning and soon realized that was not necessary.  Short Stuff does well in math so we play Sequence Dice and a little Race Car game for addition and subtraction.  We are spending most of our time reading and working on sight words, with some writing thrown in for good measure.
He is helping me cook and is so proud of his meals.  He takes walks with his PaPaw and loves to ride his scooter.  Of course, there is always baseball and football games in the front yard.
This is an unusual experience for educators, and  I know the 1st grade teachers will pull together plans that will get all our kiddos on the same page.
If you or loved ones are in the same situation as I am, school via internet.  I recommend working on a weakness you may observe in your little student and read all the time.  It doesn't matter if your student reads to you or you read to them.  Just read.  Read outside, read to the dog, or a stuffed animal, read with a flashlight under a quilt.  Just read.
Stay Safe and Happy Quilting!